andiesenji

The reason I like the commercial freezers is because they have no door shelves. I have baskets that sit on the shelves for holding stuff - it makes it easier to rotate foods and much easier to clean inside. Also it saves the cooling. Pull a basket out, close the freezer door and search the basket instead of standing with the door open for five minutes while hunting for something. Like these

Sorry about my error. I have talked to Star Restaurant supply about getting a freezer and initially we talked about ColdTech and Traulson. I dug out my folder and went through the brochures and the one I found that would work best for me is this one made by Green World, more energy efficient than any of the other commercial freezers. It is bigger than the one I have now but I also have a side by side in the kitchen (Maytag wide-by-side) which I love but am pretty sure I am going to swap out for a fridge-only unit so the bigger capacity will take up the slack. I am getting rid of my commercial oven as I have a buyer for it, and putting in a regular oven/ovens and since that area has to be re-configured, I want to move the fridge also and I want one that has two doors but is all refrigerator, no freezer, made by Klondike in a wood cabinet to match my cabinets. Here's a better picture. This site lists almost all of the commercial freezers and fridges with prices so it's easier to compare them. freezer specs and prices

I have had both types of freezer and much prefer the upright types. I have had several different brands and sizes and I believe bigger is better. I have a huge 32 cf with the Kenmore label, however Sears no longer carries these big units (12 years old) which were made by a commercial freezer mfg. It is totally frost free. A couple of months ago, I went along with one of my neighbors who bought this freezer from Lowe's They ordered it, and it took about 3 weeks, as I recall, they rented a truck with a lift gate for half a day, which was cheaper than the delivery charge, which I think was $75.00. Since it went into the garage they didn't need an appliance dolly (although I have one, which everyone around here uses). We split a steer and he brings whole wild pigs back from Mexico and does some hunting. The freezer works very well. It is an Energy Star appliance and they got a rebate from Edison. - All power companies offer rebates for any Energy Star appliances and it is a money saver. In addition they took their old freezer, which like yours, still worked and cooled, to SCEs recycling center and got a check for $50.00 for it plus they got a $50.00 rebate from SCE for buying an Energy Star freezer. If my freezer dies, I plan on replacing it with a 2-door commercial one made by Cold-Tech that is about the same size volume, but is wider and not as deep from front to back.

Make it in the morning. No need to dry it. It is dense and not all that moist to begin with. I often have it baking when I begin frying onions and cooking the giblets, if I am going to use them. As soon as it comes out of the oven I turn it out onto the butcher block and chop it into chunks with a long knife (or a big 2-handled pizza cutter) and let it cool as much as it will until it is ready to add to the other ingredients.

When the first book to carry this name was being researched, the author interviewed dozens of citizens who live (and cook) much as their ancestors did and who are proud of their heritage. If you read the book you will see that it is not a condemnation of these people nor does it make fun of them. Those that were interviewed and whose stories were included in the book were very proud of it. There have been a lot of books about "down-home" cooking, "Southern Old-Time" cooking, and so on, but none have had the instant success of this book. The catchy title caught their eye but the quality of the food and the honesty of the recipes made people recommend it to others. In 1986, Ernest Mickler's book was a best-seller. If you scroll down to the 6th article on this page from the New York Times archives you can see what was being said at the time. The following quote is from the Jargon Society: "One book stands alone - Ernest Matthew Mickler's White Trash Cooking, called by Metropolitan Home "the best American cookbook of the century," which took Jargon and the country by surprise and storm. A fun book to hold and read, a visionary laugh at stodge, it is the one book Jargon had to divest, becoming bigger than Jargon could or wanted to handle. An unusual cookbook, in many ways it represents a sea-change for Jargon - a shift from the poetic arts to more works of photography and visionary folk art. White Trash was both a blessing and a curse, bringing a spurt of national notoriety to the press, which, I believe, has since hindered its fund-raising abilities. The question arises as to why Jargon didn't establish an endowment with the money made from the book, but Jargon remained true to its Utopian passion - publishing the best books possible from an expanding project list, and expecting the best from others - that the financial backing would appear for the next project: "I do always try to figure out some way to get the book paid for before I publish it...But after it is paid for and published I don't much concern myself with what happens to it. I feel that if the public wants badly enough...the books...they ought to be willing to make the effort to find them. The way I see it, it is much like 'dropping seeds into the ground.' Something is going to happen, and it usually does." (Rooke 6) Mickler's point was that this particular niche of society, long written off by the mainliners, had a rich, historical and important culinary tradition that had to be recorded for posterity. He was not putting these people down! He was celebrating their lives and cultural diversity. The fact is that the cookbook sold so well that it introduced a great many people all over the US (and other countries) to these traditional foods of the rural south. A significant side effect was the hugely increased interest in folk art of the rural south. Many of these people who had barely existed, found buyers seeking them out, galleries competing for their artworks and giving them the chance to make a decent living. One man, who became successful in the late '80s and early '90s, was interviewed as part of a PBS special and was proud to show off the home he had built and the community center and high school he had endowed with proceeds from his folk art. The gallery owner who discovered this backwoods artist, and several others, said that she had bought Ernest Mickler's cookbook and wanted to see for herself the people who could do so much with so little. She told the interviewer that she never knew that something as simple as beans could be so satisfying.

I order from a couple of vendors but have been using this one. Mousehouse Cheesehaus If you like sharp cheddar, try the 5-year-old. (That is what I ordered, the 6 was a typo in my first post.) Also the cranberry cheddar is delicious - I melt a slice on a lightly toasted English muffin. So good with tea. I used to buy a lot from Widmers but when I tried to place an order a few months back I couldn't get to the checkout page and they weren't answering their phone.

I love goat. The "chivo" (some call it "cabrito") I buy at the local Mexican carnicerias has never had the "gamy" flavor I find so objectional in the older "lamb" one finds in the markets, although some people say they have had goat meat that is gamy, I have not, it is probably due to how they are fed. Goat meat here, mostly grain fed, is sweet and actually low fat so is better for one than beef. My next-door neighbors are originally from Mexico and still own a ranch near Durango and often barbecue whole kid and pigs when they have a party. (Which is often because they have a large, extended family and any excuse, graduation from high school, university, 15th birthday for girls, weddings, children/grands home from Iraq or ???) I am almost always included because we share our garden stuff and they use my big barbecue when they have really big parties. I make a killer chile with goat meat, won a chile cookoff about 20 years ago with it. Goat meat slow braised - just like one does pork for carnitas - makes fantastic tacos or burritos. The neck meat, the two strips on either side of the spine, cut into chunks and marinated for a couple of days, then threaded onto skewers with small whole onions and split caloro or similar medium peppers, can be wrapped in foil and cooked in a low oven (250) for an hour, then finished on the barbecue. This treatment keeps the meat moist and very, very tender. Here are several recipes.

Yes. It does have a function. There has been discussion in previous topics. I will see if I can find the reference. Check here - scroll down to "salt".

That is very clever. I just ordered some Wisconsin cheese that is impossible to find out here.I love brick cheese, both young and aged, so ordered some of both, plus some 6-year-old cheddar. Also, I am still enjoying the Piave. I made a pizza with pears, apples and slices of the Piave drizzled with balsamic vinegar.

I am bumping this topic up because in today's email I received this periodic message from the California Avocado Commission. There are many terrific recipes on this site. These Halloween party recipes sound and look like they would be a great addition to a party meal. Topical avocado recipes. Haas avocados will be at their peak soon. Some stores are carrying the large, shiny, bright green skinned Zutano that is only available from September through December.

Er, do you mean one that moves about on its own? As the story went on, I began to think that this is beginning to sound a bit like The Luggage..... I mean, dropping out of trees..... sneaking up on Nac Mac Feegles???? The thing obviously has little fear of most things. I supposed one could always threaten it with a toasting fork....

The first ice cream machine I had was a Simac, that lasted about 18 years but finally got to the point that the coolant had to be recharged - the compressor leaked and the original coolant was no longer legal - or somethng like that. It would have cost too much to convert it. So I replaced it with one of the Lello, Gelato Jr machines(made by Simac) to see how well it worked. It was just fine but not enough capacity - just 1 quart. I then bought the larger Lello Pro, which makes 2 quarts. It works just fine also. A few months later the Musso 2-quart was offered for sale but for some reason was taken off the market a short time later. The Musso comparable to the Lello Pro was back in the catalogs (Chefs, Cooking.com, etc.) about 6 months later but was listed as 1 1/2 quart capacity. I have no idea why - when I checked back on the photos of the first offering of the Musso 2-quart, it looked identical to the now available 1 1/2 quart. It is possible that the capacity was misrepresented when it was first imported and they had complaints, but I don't know for sure. One of my neighbors got the Cuisinart supreme on sale for 250.00 US dollars last month - it is also a 1 1/2 quart machine. I still like the Lello Pro, its made by Simac which was a good buy for me, considering how long it lasted with heavy use (I was a caterer at the time) and it does a decent job. I ofen use both machines, the smaller capacity one for heavily flavored recipes - 30 minute cycle, and the larger machine for plain vanilla, or fruited ice creams - 45 minute cycle. Here is a write-up on Epinions. I couldn't find the Lello listed in the common UK sites: Amazon UK has these which include the self-contained units. I think the closest to the larger Lello would be the Gaggia. Here's another UK vendor They carry the Simac - which is very similar to the machine I had for so many years and was problem-free until near the end of its life and it was used heavily for many years. I used it for savory sorbets, not just for sweets. I often made a tomato/clam sorbet that my clients loved as a starter before dinner. Many times I would have the machine running for hours, making up multiple flavors of ice cream, sorbets, sherberts, etc. I should add that when I bought the Simac, in 1985, it cost almost 900.00 US. Pro-rating it over 18 years shows that the actual cost was very reasonable. (I could write it off as a business expense.) However I know other caterers who used the old-fashioned ice-and-salt machines (electric) which were priced over 100.00 US at the time and had to replace them every couple of years. They ended up paying more than I did when you figure the total costs - plus they had to buy ice and salt and make sure they didn't make a mess in their client's yard. (One had a helper that allowed the water to drain onto the lawn and the salt water killed a big patch of grass which cost the caterer who had to have it re-turfed) Many times warranted things do not carry over to a second owner. I am leery of buying "Used" things like this, however if there is one on eBay, still sealed in box from factory, with warranty card blank, then you can register it.

I have never had them any way except pan-fried. The seasonings are individual, not exactly regional. I have eaten them in many places and when I had them in Louisiana, some were spicy, some were not. I happen to like them with just a bit of spiciness.

I have a hose right outside my kitchen door with a high pressure nozzle and I just blast the stuff out with it. I do make sure to clean it immediately after use. That is the most important thing. If I have something extremely fatty I spray inside and out with the Dawn Power Dissolver.

Jane Fisk made the cake for her daughter's wedding. details here! And here is another one, somewhat smaller and greener. and several other cakes, including an orc's head.

AhHa! a Larry Niven fan!

The newer ones have clear plastic cups that fit over the top of the area where the diced onion will end up. available from ChefsCatalog.com

You too? ← Me too! I think some of mine have migrated into L-Space. Many are in storage, in metal footlockers, with a list of all the books laminated onto the end. I converted one bedroom into a library and one entire wall of shelves holds cookbooks, plus a bunch of rare old ones, first editions, signed, etc., in barrister's bookcases. (I have a lot of other types of books too.) The shelved ones are sorted by author and by regional, ethnic, type of food, type of cookbook (church/charity/Jr. League/etc.) I have a bunch of favorites here in my office and then there are the stacks here and there on the floor, next to a chair or couch, in a box to be sorted, and I just noticed 6 that for some reason are in a garden trug on a work table and apparently they have been there for some time because there are several magazine stacked on top of them. (I am the bane of my housekeeper's existance, she likes everything neat and I am always leaving stacks of books here and there and everywhere.)

I don't see why not. They might be a little sticky/greasy to handle for a while afterward. But I think the mineral oil would also help them to stay in good condition. ← I can give you a little helpful hint if you have a vacuum sealer. Apply the oil - be generous - place the rolling pin and whatever else (I treat my wooden spoons and other utensils this way) in the bag - which you have already sealed at one end. Leave at least 8 inches of empty bag beyond where the wood is. Vacuum seal it at the very end. Leave it alone for a day, cut the sealed end off, re-apply the oil and run the thing through the vacuum sealer again. Leave it overnight again. If the wood is still very absorbant repeat this step again. Remove the wood things from the bag and wipe well with a soft, absorbant cloth. Wrap in paper towels and allow to rest for a day or so. The final step is to rub them with dry cornstarch then wipe again with a soft cloth. The cornstarch will absorb just the oil on the surface.

I usually bake them about a week ahead of time. Depending on how much time I have. I also sometimes bake them a month or so ahead and freeze them tightly wrapped (now in the "Release" aluminum foil - I used to use waxed paper then the foil) and then in the Jumbo plastic zip close bags. This cake freezes very well. If you cook the glaze until it is almost like candy, and paint in on all over the exposed surface, it forms a sort of shell which keeps the cake nicely moist. When I make it as a Bundt cake, I use one of the "keepers" made for that type of cake and find that it works beautifully to keep the cake fresh. The first one I bought was 25.99 but they have come down in price significantly. Amazon has it for 14.99 and they are worth every penny.

I order Odlums online, in fact, I just placed an order a couple of days ago for some from the place I get the Kerrygold butter - they have a "deal" for a bulk order and since I use so much, it works for me, even with paying extra for the shipping. I got an email notice that it will be delivered tomorrow. Food Ireland.com The Kerrygold deal If you look under the "Breakfast" heading, you will see other stuff I order. The sausages, the bacon, - - - Oh God, I have no willpower at all............ there are a couple of other sources for Odlums, I will have to look at the bookmarks in my old browser.

Check this topic, which goes into the various details of roasted beets!

Note that the recipe I posted does not contain any butter. There is enough fat in commercial buttermilk to give the tenderness once only achieved with cutting butter into the flour.

You are 100% correct, thom. I have several books on the subject, "Biscuits and Scones" "Crumpets and Scones" and "Simply Scones" and they all include a basic recipe without sugar. These were originally meant to be dropped on a hot "girdle" (this is not misspelled) and baked in front of a fire. For years I saved an Odlums Self-Rising flour bag that had a very similar recipe printed on it with a list of variations. 2 cups self-rising flour 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 3/4 cup buttermilk (1/4 cup sweet milk for glaze) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Sift the measured flour - sifting twice is better, set aside. Mix the baking soda into the buttermilk in a 2-quart bowl. Add about 2/3s of the flour and stir to mix, then add just enough of the remaining flour to make a very soft dough. Sprinkle the remaining flour on a board, turn the dough out onto the board knead and turn the dough juft twice, shape into a round and pat to flatten until about 3/4 to 1 inch thick. Using a long knife cut into 8 wedges but do not separate the wedges. Slide the round onto an oiled baking sheet (or use parchement paper). Brush the top with milk or with egg wash. Place baking sheet on center shelf in oven and bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Serve hot! You can add any type of dried fruits to this recipe, or sprinkle the top with sugar or cinnamon/sugar, if you wish. They can also be made savory with bacon bits, grated cheese or ?? herbs and spices. I sometimes prepare this simple recipe with chopped sun-dried tomatoes and sprinkle the top with coarse salt and dried herbs.

Odd or just plain stupid? Several years ago, while I was still doing some catering, I happened to mention to one of my clients that I was having two steers butchered the following week and could offer her beef ribs, cross cut into 2-inch pieces and barbecued. Her brother, who had been hanging around while we worked on the menu, stopped me as I was leaving and asked if I could save the testicles for him. It took me ten minutes to explain that these were steers and why I couldn't comply with his request. He kept saying, I'm willing to pay for them." I had to practically draw him a picture and tell him they were wacked off the animal at age 12 weeks........